The pronunciation column uses English sounds, with the stressed syllable in capitals. The listen button gives you the real thing.<\/p>\n\n The word for “season” is la estaci\u00f3n<\/span>, plural las estaciones<\/span>: the same word as a railway station. The full phrase is las estaciones del a\u00f1o<\/span>.<\/p>\n\n Three sounds are worth a minute with English-speaking pupils.<\/p>\n\n The v<\/strong> in verano<\/span>, primavera<\/span> and invierno<\/span> is not the English v. Spanish makes it with both lips, like a soft b, so verano<\/span> starts almost like “berano”.<\/p>\n\n The \u00f1<\/strong> in oto\u00f1o<\/span> is the “ny” of “canyon”. The little tilde is not decoration: without it, the word is misspelt and the sound changes.<\/p>\n\n The r<\/strong> in primavera<\/span> and verano<\/span> is a single quick tap of the tongue, close to the tt in an American “butter”. All four words are stressed on the second-to-last syllable, so none of them needs a written accent.<\/p>\n\n To say what season it is, Spanish uses estar en<\/span>: Estamos en oto\u00f1o.<\/span> (literally “we are in autumn”). The question is \u00bfEn qu\u00e9 estaci\u00f3n estamos?<\/span><\/p>\n\n There are two ways of counting. In everyday Spanish, and in the Spanish media, the seasons follow the astronomical calendar: equinoxes (el equinoccio<\/span>) and solstices (el solsticio<\/span>). The exact day moves slightly from year to year, so these dates are approximate.<\/p>\n\n Meteorologists also use meteorological seasons, which start on the 1st of the month: 1 March, 1 June, 1 September and 1 December in the northern hemisphere. This is the system your pupils may know from UK weather forecasts.<\/p>\n\n South of the equator, the seasons are reversed. In Buenos Aires or Santiago de Chile, Christmas falls in summer and the long school holidays run from December to February. This is the best cultural hook of the topic: En Chile, la Navidad es en verano.<\/span><\/p>\n\n Near the equator, in Colombia, Central America or the Caribbean, the temperature hardly changes through the year. People talk instead about la estaci\u00f3n seca<\/span> (the dry season) and la estaci\u00f3n de lluvias<\/span> (the rainy season). In Central America and parts of Colombia and Venezuela, invierno<\/span> is commonly used for the rainy season and verano<\/span> for the dry season, whatever the calendar says. Worth knowing before a pupil with family in Honduras corrects you.<\/p>\n\n One verb has no English equivalent: veranear<\/span>, to spend the summer holidays somewhere. Veraneamos en la costa.<\/span><\/p>\n\n En invierno hace fr\u00edo y a veces nieva.<\/span>In winter it’s cold and sometimes it snows.<\/small><\/p>\n\n Mi estaci\u00f3n favorita es el verano porque no hay clase.<\/span>My favourite season is summer because there’s no school.<\/small><\/p>\n\n El oto\u00f1o empieza en septiembre.<\/span>Autumn starts in September.<\/small><\/p>\n\n El verano pasado fui a Galicia.<\/span>Last summer I went to Galicia.<\/small><\/p>\n\n Season is not always estaci\u00f3n<\/span>. For sport, tourism or TV, Spanish uses la temporada<\/span>: la temporada de f\u00fatbol<\/span>, temporada alta<\/span> (high season), la segunda temporada<\/span> (series two).<\/p>\n\n The seasons are learnt in a lesson, but they only stick if pupils use them regularly. The simplest way is to fold the season into the date at the start of every lesson.<\/p>\n\n This is exactly what a daily date routine does at its highest level: the season becomes part of the sentence, every day, without extra teaching time.<\/p>\n\n Alongside the routine, try a class survey (\u00bfCu\u00e1l es tu estaci\u00f3n favorita? \u00bfPor qu\u00e9?<\/span>), a clothes-and-seasons sort (En invierno llevo un abrigo.<\/span>), or a comparison of the school calendar in Chile and in the UK.<\/p>\n\n At KS2, a seasons song and a picture for each season are enough. At KS3, insist on gender and the article with gustar<\/span>. At GCSE, the seasons are a springboard for tenses: El verano pasado\u2026<\/span>, El pr\u00f3ximo invierno voy a\u2026<\/span><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Primavera, verano, oto\u00f1o, invierno: pronunciation, gender, en verano, the southern hemisphere and a routine for class.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"menu_order":1,"template":"","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"Seasons in Spanish: Names, Rules, Dates | VocaDial","_seopress_titles_desc":"The four seasons in Spanish with pronunciation, gender and \"in summer\", when each season starts, the southern hemisphere, and a daily routine.","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_seopress_news_disabled":"","_seopress_video_disabled":"","_seopress_video":[],"_seopress_pro_schemas_manual":[],"_seopress_pro_rich_snippets_disable_all":"","_seopress_pro_rich_snippets_disable":[],"_seopress_pro_schemas":[],"_vd_topic":"saisons","_vd_target":"es","_vd_module":"fecha","_vd_level":"A1","_vd_minutes":"6","_vd_card_word":"primavera\u2026","_vd_answer":"The four seasons in Spanish are la primavera<\/span> (spring), el verano<\/span> (summer), el oto\u00f1o<\/span> (autumn) and el invierno<\/span> (winter). They are written in lower case; primavera<\/span> is feminine and the other three are masculine. \"In summer\" is simply en verano<\/span>.","_vd_faq":"[{\"q\":\"What are the four seasons in Spanish?\",\"a\":\"La primavera<\\\/span> (spring), el verano<\\\/span> (summer), el oto\u00f1o<\\\/span> (autumn) and el invierno<\\\/span> (winter).\"},{\"q\":\"Are the seasons capitalised in Spanish?\",\"a\":\"No. Seasons are written in lower case, like months and days, except at the start of a sentence.\"},{\"q\":\"Is primavera masculine or feminine?\",\"a\":\"Feminine: la primavera<\\\/span>, esta primavera<\\\/span>. The other three seasons are masculine: el verano<\\\/span>, el oto\u00f1o<\\\/span>, el invierno<\\\/span>.\"},{\"q\":\"How do you say \\\"in summer\\\" in Spanish?\",\"a\":\"En verano<\\\/span>. En el verano<\\\/span> is also correct and common, especially in Latin America. \\\"Last summer\\\" is el verano pasado<\\\/span>, with no preposition.\"},{\"q\":\"What season is it in Argentina in December?\",\"a\":\"Summer. In the southern hemisphere the seasons are reversed, so summer starts around 21 December and Christmas is celebrated in the heat.\"}]","_vd_key":"saisons-es","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-56","vd_ressource","type-vd_ressource","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vocadial.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vd_ressource\/56","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vocadial.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vd_ressource"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vocadial.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/vd_ressource"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vocadial.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vd_ressource\/56\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vocadial.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Spanish<\/th> English<\/th> Say it like<\/th><\/tr><\/thead> la primavera<\/td> spring<\/td> lah pree-mah-BEH-rah<\/td><\/tr> el verano<\/td> summer<\/td> el beh-RAH-noh<\/td><\/tr> el oto\u00f1o<\/td> autumn<\/td> el oh-TOH-nyoh<\/td><\/tr> el invierno<\/td> winter<\/td> el een-BYEHR-noh<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n Gender, articles and prepositions<\/h2>\n\n
When do the seasons start?<\/h2>\n\n
Season<\/th> Northern hemisphere (Spain, Mexico, the US)<\/th> Southern hemisphere (Argentina, Chile, Uruguay)<\/th><\/tr><\/thead> spring<\/td> around 20 March<\/td> around 22 or 23 September<\/td><\/tr> summer<\/td> around 21 June<\/td> around 21 or 22 December<\/td><\/tr> autumn<\/td> around 22 or 23 September<\/td> around 20 March<\/td><\/tr> winter<\/td> around 21 or 22 December<\/td> around 21 June<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n Seasons across the Spanish-speaking world<\/h3>\n\n
Words that go with the seasons<\/h2>\n\n
Typical mistakes of English-speaking learners<\/h2>\n\n
In class: the season in the date routine<\/h2>\n\n
Adapting to your class<\/h3>\n\n